


They Don't Bite

by hirusen



Series: Headcanon Sanders Sides [3]
Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Comfort, Dolos Has Pet Snakes, Family Fluff, Feeding Pets, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Nervousness, One Of Them Gets Out, Pets, Platonic Relationships, Snake Cuddles, Snakes, Tags Are Hard, Virgil Knows About The Snakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 18:43:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14408211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirusen/pseuds/hirusen
Summary: He thought he had locked his door. One of his pets proves him otherwise.





	They Don't Bite

Logan glanced to his phone when he got a text from Dolos. "Is that him?" "Yes. He'll be back in about ten minutes." Virgil hummed, crossing his arms as he glanced to the clock. "...Yeah, he would be taking care of them by then." "Taking care of who?" Roman asked, overhearing what Virgil said. Anxiety didn't reply, going back to whatever he was doing on his phone. Of course, he nearly shot out of his skin when Logan screamed bloody murder. "What?!" He asked, a little panicked, and Logan just pointed at the stairs.

It was a snake.

A rather large one, about 3 feet, with gray scales that had splotches of black scattered about its body. It was poking its head out between the balusters, seeming to be staring at Logan, its forked tongue flicking out, scenting the air. The front door opened a moment later and they heard as Deceit groaned. "I thought I had locked my door." "Wait, that thing is yours?!" Logan barked and Deceit just rolled his eyes. "That's not a 'thing', Logan. You know that. And yes, he's mine." Dolos shut the front door, smiling when he saw the snake slip forward more. "Couldn't wait until I got home, huh Remy?" "Remy?" Patton asked, having took Logan's hand to help calm him down.

"His name. I named him that because of the marks by his eyes." Dolos explained, gently pulling the snake off the stairs, the others watching as the snake wrapped its tail and body around Deceit's arm. "See?" He showed Remy to the others and by the snake's eyes were two black crescent moon marks. "I see. Remy, like REM sleep you get at night." Roman stated and Deceit hummed. It was then that he noticed that Remy had shifted his attention from Logan to Virgil. "Whoa. Hey, hey. Calm down, buddy." He spoke, reaching his other hand up to catch Remy as he tried to slip out of his grasp. "W-Why is he coming towards me?" "I...think he wants to cuddle with you." "He cuddles?" Logan asked, seeming baffled. "Of course! Any pet wants to curl up with its owner or other people from time to time."

Dolos took slow steps towards Virgil, knowing that he was still a little nervous around his pets. When they were only a couple of feet apart did Dolos actually let Remy slip out of his hands, the group watching as he slithered onto Virgil's shoulder, starting to curl around the back of his neck. He rose up, the tip of his forked tongue lightly flicking against Virgil's cheek, before he lowered himself and settled around his neck. "...Does he really remember me?" "I think so. I'm a little surprised too, he was still a baby when you first met him." Patton, Roman, and Logan lost their jaws. "Virgil, you knew Deceit had a pet snake?" "He, um...actually has, what? Seven snakes?" He hummed, giggling a little when Remy nudged his head against Virgil's neck. "...I forget that he's a cute little noodle."

Roman was shocked at how calm Virgil was about having a freaking  _snake_ wrapped around his throat. "Aren't you...nervous, Virg?" "Hm? Oh, only when I first interact with them again." "Virgil's anxiety is actually a lot more controllable if he has a support animal, but since Patton's allergic to the best one suited for him, he tends to help take care of my pets when he's been feeling anxious for a few weeks." Roman frowned. "Dogs don't help?" "We think they do? It's just hard figuring out what breed would be best for my needs. But these little guys help in there own way." Patton, after staring at Remy for the whole conversation, released Logan's hand and walked over to Virgil. "...You can pet him. It's okay, he won't bite." Dolos assured, the father of the group nodding his head as he tentatively reached two fingers up, shaking a little cause he's never been this close to a snake before (and no, Deceit doesn't count).

He flinched when Remy moved, putting his fingers back before the animal. He let out a tiny giggle at the feeling of his tongue flicking across the tips of his fingers, keeping as still as possible when Remy gently pressed his body against his curled up hand, slowly sliding from Virgil to him. A moment passed before Patton carefully uncurled his palm and Remy curled up in it. "Heh...he's so cute." He reached his other hand up and stroked the top of the snake's head, seeing as he leaned into the touch a little. "Remy's a sweetheart. A spoiled and sometimes sassy little thing, but a sweety." Dolos said, reaching his hand out, smiling when the snake quickly curled up around his hand and wrist again.

"...Do you want to see the others?" Deceit offered, his eyes flickering to the others in the room; he knew Virgil would be more than happy to, but he wasn't 100 percent sure about the others. "I...would be committing a falsehood if I said that I wasn't interested." Logan confessed, Roman nodding in agreement. "I, too, am interested in what other snakes you have." Dolos grinned, gesturing for them to follow him upstairs. They walked to the end of the hallway, where they saw that the door was indeed cracked open, Deceit making a tsking sound when he spotted who was behind it opening. "Caramel, really? Goodness, girl, you two are so impatient." Deceit turned when he heard Roman freeze in his steps, eyes wide. "I-Is that...a..?" "Burmese python? Yes, she is. Remy here is a corn snake." Remy had moved from Dolos's hand to his shoulders, seeming to be watching the Prince.

Deceit smiled and offered the other his hand, which Roman quickly snatched. "It's okay. None of my snakes will hurt any of you. They know better. Yes, they'll be a little more active than usual because you, Logan, and Patton are new faces, but that just means they'll want to be on or around you like Remy is with me." He explained, keeping still as Remy slithered from his body onto the royalty's, squeezing Roman's hand when he seemed nervous. Remy raised his head and scented Roman's neck, not moving until the Prince giggled a little from the feeling of his forked tongue flicking against his neck. "Well, while you hold onto Remy, I'll move Caramel out of the doorway; can't really get in there if she's there." Deceit walked to his door then, opening up a little more as he knelt down. "Hey baby. I'll feed you guys in a minute." He hushed as they all watched Caramel crawl up Dolos's arm and draped herself across his shoulders. He carefully wrapped the hand she was leaning again around her body, standing up and successfully hoisting her up enough for him to move her, freeing up the doorway so the others could get into his room.

The rest of the group was a little confused when Virgil stripped out of his hoodie and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "It can get a little warm in his room." He stated, calmly walking into the Dark Side's room, knowing full well that the others will be in not long after. Deceit's room was huge. He had the same things you would expect someone to have in their bedroom--a dresser, bookshelf, bed, nightstand--but there was only one cage for the snakes. It was the size of a large throw rug, filled with all kinds of fake rocks and half tree logs for his snakes to crawl under or onto; there was large dried branches for Caramel to slide onto or hang herself off of, and it had typical bedding material that one could find at a local pet store that sold snakes. The walls of the cage were glass and were only about two feet high. Deceit had pulled Caramel close to the large, open cage, but didn't put her in.

"She's...big." Roman stuttered, now seeing the full length of the Burmese; the full, 12 feet of her. They also saw why she was named Caramel; while her base scales were a dim yellow, the spots on her body were actually caramel in color, standing out sharply against the black that surrounded each spot. "So Remy still isn't fully grown?" Virgil asked as he went to the fridge Deceit had in the corner of his room, opening up the freezer part and grabbed a small, dead, frozen mouse from it, walking over to Roman to take Remy from around his neck. The other Sides were simply stunned when Virgil rested the frozen mouse in the palm of his hand where Remy could see it, not flinching or tensing up when the snake coiled up to strike, witnessing as he lunged and nabbed only the mouse from Virgil's hand, not getting Anxiety's skin at all. "Not yet. Got about five more months and another shedding before he is."

Deceit had been looking around his room for something, smirking when he found it behind his bookcase. "What are you doing back there?" He asked as he leaned down and pulled the smallest snake out of the ones Logan and Patton have seen. "Oh my goodness! I was wondering where he was!" Virgil's excitement really got the rest of the group to wonder just how often Virgil came into Deceit's room, rushing over to gently take the snake from him. Dolos chuckled and threaded his fingers through Virgil's hair. "I've missed you, you little noodle! Oh, you are so cute, Shade!" The snake he held was black minus the red stripe that ran along the middle of its body. "He keeps wanting to try and get into places he knows I have to move stuff to get him out of." "Oh, have you been a mischievous boy again?" Virgil cooed, letting Shade join Remy on his shoulders, walking back to the fridge to get him his meal, which again, Virgil let him take out of his hand.

"W-Whoa!" Roman stumbled back a little when Caramel was suddenly at his side, not noticing that she had gotten closer which was impressive because she was so large. He held his body in place as she started to slide her way up his leg, coming to a pause with her head against his abs. "She won't go higher on you unless you kneel down. Though, I'm sure you'd be able to support her weight even if she did." Dolos hushed, coming back to the Prince. Patton and Logan were not too far from the door, even though they had shut it, appearing petrified because of all the snakes in Deceit's room. "H-How big is Shade?" Patton asked, trying to get himself to move. "He's only 2 and a half feet. He's a garter snake, so they don't get that big anyway." "What...other species do you have?" Logan asked, attempting the same thing as Patton. "A California Kingsnake, a Ball python, a Carpet python, and a Gopher snake." Patton perked up at that last one.

"...Why don't you help me feed her, Roman?" He asked, seeing as the royal family member got a little more tense at the idea. He took his hand and slowly pulled him away, indicating to Caramel that she was gonna be fed in a moment. He guided him to the fridge--Virgil having settled onto Dolos's bed--and grabbed a rat from it, handing it to Roman. "W-What do I..?" He was shocked when Deceit rubbed small circles into the small of his back, trying to calm him. "I know that you're so nervous because of her size, but don't worry." He guided Roman to kneel down then, moving his hand so he had the rat by the tail and was dangling it. Caramel had more speed than the others were ready for her to have, almost instantly before Dolos and Roman, tensing up as she eyed her meal. Roman felt Deceit's strong, steady hand on his back and took a slow breath to calm himself; the second he was a little calmer did she strike, snaring the rat out of his hand with an almost gentle ease. "See? She won't hurt you." After she swallowed the rat, she came closer to Roman, sliding up his thigh and up his chest. He turned to look at her when her head was next to his, feeling as her tongue flickered against his cheek.

Logan, Patton, and Roman were stunned when her snout was tapped against his nose. "Aw, she likes you, Princey." Virgil spoke up, Remy now in his hair while Shade was wrapped around his wrist and hand. "She...does?" He asked as she lowered herself until she was resting against his bent leg, her head resting against his kneecap. "Yeah. She does that with people she likes. So, Logan, dad, expect her to do that with you too when you get around to playing with her." Deceit stayed next to the Prince as he sat on the floor, smiling with him as Caramel carefully coiled herself around his hips, her head nestled against his shoulder; the rest of her body was loosely surrounding the other almost protectively. "...You seemed interested in my gopher snake, Pat."

The father of the group nodded his head. Deceit walked over to his dresser and fully opened the bottom drawer, which had already been cracked open, and pulled out a sandy scaled, 3 foot snake. "Oh, it's so tiny!" "Yeah, she is rather small for her species. Her name is Sahara." Deceit let Patton come to him, getting him further in the room, before he handed him the snake. Sahara kept moving up his arm until she was nuzzled around his neck, instantly content. "C-Can I feed her?" "Of course." Deceit messed up Patton's hair a little, a bright smile on his lips. He went once more to his fridge and grabbed a mouse, handing it to Patton. "You can actually just hold it against her snout; she'll still eat it." He explained, Patton nodding his head before he did as the Dark Side said; he felt as her mouth opened and she took hold of the mouse, swallowing it. "Oh that feels so weird." He could actually  _feel_ as the mouse went down her throat. "Sahara is a little lazy, but she just loves cuddling like that, so I thought that you would've liked her." Deceit reached up and stroked the top of her head.

Now all that was left was for Logan to interact with the snakes. "I-I don't know, Dolos. I'm just..." He started as the other came closer, but he placed his hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile. "It's understandable that you, out all of us, would be the most scared of snakes; after all, there are so many poisonous and venomous species that you can't really keep track of which ones are which. And you know what? That's perfectly okay. That's why I'm still with you all, staying by your side while you first interact with one of them." He locked his eyes with Logan, who seemed to have his face slapped by his words. "You think of snake and you naturally think of danger; but the ones I have as my pets are not dangerous. Unless you count being extremely cute dangerous, and if so, we have to add Patton to that list." Finally, Logan's nerves started to vanish when he chuckled. "...Why don't I show you Al? He's pretty small, but he should be perfect for you." Logan nodded, his hand reaching up and taking hold of Deceit's clothes; it was actually pretty cute to see Logan both so scared of his snakes while still wanting to touch them, interact with them.

He lead him to his bookcase, reaching up to the top shelf and pulling down what Logan assumed was Al. Al was an albino, all white expect for the black marks scattered on his scales. "He's a ball python, and the only true albino snake I have." Al glanced up to Logan when Dolos handed him over, everyone in the room holding their breath to see what would happen. Dolos leaned close to Logan, whispering to him that he was going to get a mouse for Al to eat, stepping away from Logic. Al kept his eyes on Logan, not really moving, but then again neither was the Side that held him. As Deceit got closer to Logan again, he raised the mouse up by the tail, knowing that Al would smell it. Everyone watched as Deceit held the mouse up over the snake just enough for it to have to lunge to get it. It made its strike fast, hastily snagging the meal from his owner's hand. Logan witnessed as Al swallowed the mouse before he curled up around his forearm, head planted against the inside of his elbow.

After a long, seemingly tense moment, Logan reached up and stroked Al's scales; Deceit saw Al lean into the touch a little and smiled. "They aren't so scary now, are they?" Logan shot Deceit a glare for his mocking tone, but there was still a smile in his eyes. Having properly introduced his newly close friends to his snakes, Dolos went to his fridge one last time, pulling out another rat and mouse. "Now, you guys will love Blu." "Why?" Roman asked, Caramel still coiled around him, but was now lounging across his legs. Deceit just tossed him a smirk, moving to his dresser again, this time pulling the top drawer open more before hovering the rat above it. They all gasped when a teal blue snake shot out from the drawer, taking the rat into its mouth. "Because of her scales. Which, is why I named her Blu." Dolos said as he pulled Blu out from the drawer, seeing that she was eyeing the mouse he had in his other hand. "No. Not for you." He softly scolded, moving the mouse into his other hand so it was too far for her to get at the moment, given that she was only 5 feet long. "Blu here is a carpet python. Now, this one..."

He spoke as he walked over to his nightstand, setting the mouse down next to the lamp he had on it, and they all saw as another snake lunged out, eating its meal. "This is Cocoa, and she is a California Kingsnake." Cocoa was only 4 feet long, and had pure dark brown scales, the same shade as chocolate, hence the name. He lifted her up and she snuggled around his hand, Blu cuddled up around his throat. "It's been too long; I need to start coming back in here." Virgil stated, laying down now on Deceit's bed, Remy and Shade curled up on his chest. "I think they'd like to see you again too. And you are all more than welcomed to come into my room to visit and play with them." Dolos said, sitting down next to his bed, mindlessly stroking Blu. "You sure?" Roman asked and Dolos nodded. "Now that they have all seen you, they won't hide like that did today." "That's what they were doing?" Logan asked, having moved to be next to Patton, the duo now sitting next to Roman who wasn't that far from Dolos and Virgil.

Deceit hummed. "The only ones who don't are Remy and Caramel; Remy because he's just a little sweetheart and loves everyone, and Caramel because...well, she can't really hide in the first place, but she's pretty loving in the first place, so she doesn't mind." The room was quiet, all of them just enjoying not only each other's company, but the company of the snakes as well. In fact, they all had each snake with them at one point or another. "You mentioned that your snakes help Virgil out; how?" "Like this!" Virgil chimed, getting off Deceit's bed and walking to the middle of the room. He laid down on the floor, arms out and legs spread, and like a magnet, all of the snakes moved towards Virgil, sliding up and over his body. They had settled with Caramel draped over his legs, Remy threaded in his hair, Shade curled around his left wrist, Al wrapped around his neck, Blu resting against his abs, Sahara on his right forearm, and Cocoa coiled up on his chest. "Noodle pile!" Virgil giggled, the brightest smile any of the others has seen on his lips; though perhaps Dolos has seen it before from the way he chuckled lovingly at the sight, a knowing look in his mis-matched eyes.

"Because all of my snakes are cuddlers, they all rest on places where they can sense the most anxious energy in Virgil--his hands, his legs, his torso, and his head and neck. The weight against those places, as well as the comfort that comes with being surrounded like he is, helps calm him." "...How often did you come here, Virgil?" The other sighed. "...It was a lot before I was welcomed and accepted. At first...I just came here to see Deceit himself, back before he got the snakes, because he could calm me down. Once he started to get the snakes, we found that me helping take care of them eased my anxiety pretty good." "It's actually been over 7 months since he's last been in here to my knowledge. You three have helped him out a great deal." Virgil sat up as best as he could when he was buried under all of the snakes, a kind smile on his lips. "You have too, you sassy snake. Don't mark yourself short." He claimed, laying back down. "He is right. Plus, we do like having you around." Logan started, having moved so he sat next to Dolos.

"Yeah?" "Of course we do!" "Besides, we know that you love acting and playing a role just like I do. Since you are a Dark Side, playing the villain is easy for you." "But he's far too sassy to be a villain!" Virgil called, way too comfy now under all of the snakes. "Well...for whatever reason, I'm glad that I can call the rest of you friends." Logan leaned against Dolos, a question in his eyes. "Would it be...alright if you were sometimes...more than a friend with us?" Dolos gave him and the others a reassuring smile. "Of course I don't mind. Whatever you need me for, and for however you need it, I can and will provide it." There was a calm in the air and they felt that nothing more needed to be said, all eyes just landing on Virgil as he started to giggle when the snakes started to move on him, enjoying the company of everyone and every animal in the room.


End file.
